Friday, November 10, 2017

I
am honored and blessed to have Dr. Michelle Bengtson as a special guest blogger
today. As one who has dealt with depression for decades, her encouraging
insights are invaluable.

~~~~~

(Excerpt from "Hope Prevails - Insights from a Doctor's Personal

Journey through Depression")

I couldn’t look him in the eye, so instead I stared icily
out the car window as we sat in our vehicle in the middle of a grocery store
parking lot. Looking back, I know this took him by surprise. Of course
it did—it took me by surprise. I helped people with depression find help, hope,
and healing. Now somehow I found myself in their shoes. I was the doctor with all
the alphabet soup after my name. Even I wasn’t immune.

“Honey, I don’t know what to say. I don’t know what to do
to help…” my husband responded upon hearing my desperate condition. I didn’t know either, and perhaps that was the worst part
of all. It left me feeling scared, helpless, and hopeless.

If my life was going to be this painful and bleak, I
wasn’t sure I wanted to continue enduring more of the same, and I told him so. He was scared, as was I. I just wanted someone to wrap me
in their arms, hold me tight, never let go, and tell me everything was going to
be all right, and for that to be the truth. He just wanted me to promise him
that I was going to be all right, and yet I could make no such promises.

~~~

Depression. It cuts to the core and shatters lives. Yet it can’t be seen
from the outside and it’s often misunderstood. Trying to adequately describe depression to someone else who
has never had the misfortune to suffer its torment, is like trying to describe
a circus to a blind person. And yet, when we suffer in depression’s darkness,
we rely on the love and compassion of friends and family to help traverse to
the other side—the very ones who, although they try, may not understand.

As a friend, a loved one, a supporter of one who is depressed,
I know you want to say the right thing or do the right thing, while you are
likely afraid of saying or doing something wrong and making matters worse. I offer you some encouragement in this regard, from
someone who understands because I have over 25 years of clinical experience as
a neuropsychologist, but also as someone who suffered and knows how it feels.

Recognize
that depression is a medical condition. It’s classified as a
“mental illness” because it is impacted by the neurotransmitters in the brain,
but the brain is an organ just like the heart or the lungs. As such, someone
suffering with depression can’t just “snap out of it” or “think positively” any
more than they could “snap out of it” or “think positively” to cure their
diabetes or epilepsy.

Understand
that while depression is a mental illness that affects our emotions, it has
physical consequences as well. When most people think
about depression, they think about someone with a sad mood, who cries, and
perhaps stays in bed too much. But depression can impact a person physically
too. It brings with it considerable fatigue, decreased energy, concentration
difficulty, sleep and appetite changes, and sometimes even aches and pains.
Little things like taking a shower or brushing teeth can feel like weighty,
monumental tasks. Please adjust your expectations accordingly.

Acknowledge
that depression doesn’t fall along the normal continuum of emotions—it
is outside the realm of what would be considered normal for the situation. It
isn’t a case of the Sunday night blues, or reasonable frustration when things
don’t go as planned. It’s far more serious—that’s why it’s categorized as an
“illness.” As such, your loved one can’t be expected to “feel better in the
morning.” It can take weeks or months or years to overcome, especially without
adequate treatment.

Accept
that nobody chooses to be depressed—it is a painful,
debilitating condition. Yet sometimes the treatment to get well invokes fear in
those who suffer. Research has shown that sometimes, we are motivated by fear
to stay in our known misery rather than face the misery of the
unknown—regardless of how good the ultimate outcome might be.

Realize
success is irrelevant—as tempting as it might be,
let me suggest you resist the urge to try to encourage your loved one to think
about all their successes and accomplishments to date, and be grateful for
them. At any other time, I believe gratitude is a very important character
trait. But when someone is depressed, encouraging them to remember “how good
they have it” or “how far they’ve come” does nothing to minimize the
suffocating pain they feel. I can almost guarantee they’d trade those successes
in for a guaranteed life of peace and joy in a heartbeat.

Appreciate
that comparison is the thief of joy—in your attempt to try to
encourage and motivate your depressed loved one, please don’t compare their
situation to how much worse someone else is suffering. It won’t make your loved
one feel any better about their situation, nor will it lessen their darkness.
It will only induce guilt and prompt frustration and anger, further
intensifying the magnitude of their despair when they are now convinced you
don’t understand or empathize with their pain.

Accept
we just need to be heard. Depression can feel lonely
and isolating, and even a bit frightening. While you might be worrying about
having the right thing to say, we just want the opportunity to be together, to
share, and to be heard without needing you to say anything or try to fix it. We
don’t want to be anyone’s project. Sometimes we just need to be validated that
we are still cared about and found worthy even when we don’t feel it.

When a loved one is navigating the pain of depression, your
presence means more than perfect words. The gift of your presence lends
strength when they feel weak. It offers togetherness and community when they
feel scared and alone. It provides acceptance when they feel worthless and
rejected.

Don’t search for the perfect words. Just be a sustaining
presence and you will be remembered for your role in the journey to the other
side of the dark valley.

Dr. Michelle
Bengtson (PhD, Nova Southeastern University)
is an international speaker, and the author of best-selling “Hope Prevails: Insights From a Doctor’s
Personal Journey Through Depression” and the newly released companion “Hope Prevails Bible Study.” She has been a neuropsychologist for more
than twenty years. She is in private practice in Southlake, Texas where she
evaluates, diagnoses, and treats children and adults with a variety of medical
and mental health disorders. She knows pain and despair firsthand and combines her
professional expertise and personal experience with her faith to address issues
surrounding medical and mental disorders, both for those who suffer and for
those who care for them. She offers sound practical tools, affirms worth, and
encourages faith. Dr. Bengtson offers hope as a key to unlock joy and
relief—even in the middle of the storm. She and her husband of 30 years have
two teenage sons, and reside in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area. She blogs regularly
on her own site: http://www.DrMichelleBengtson.com

Thursday, November 2, 2017

Kevin Burke is the
co-founder of Rachel's Vineyard and a pastoral associate with Priests for Life
and the Silent No More Awareness Campaign. In one of his blogs on the Silent No More website he
said, “When
we hear of vicarious trauma, we often think of first responders; the brave men
and women who serve as firefighters, emergency medical technicians, and police
officers.” He goes on to say, “There is another Population of
First Responders.These women and men are frequently
marginalized, cursed, and ridiculed as they try and protect the innocent and
advocate for their lives. They are ignored or maligned by the media,
society and sadly sometimes even by their own faith communities; they
are the pro-life advocates on the front lines.”

Being
on the front-lines myself, I can attest to the ridicule as well as
intimidation. I can also attest to delayed emotion after a vigil or
rally. I
cannot count the times I've been sworn at, flipped off and accused of
trying to humiliate and bully young women as they approach
clinics. My response is always the same, I smile and wave at the
passing cars, and if confronted one-on-one by someone with a calm
demeanor, I quietly listen to what he/she has to say. Then I look
him/her straight in the eye and calmly ask if they would be willing
to listen to me or at least take an informational
brochure. Most walk away immediately, or they
will listen until something I say probably hits close to home,
then say something like, “that’s not true,” then storm off. There
are times I've been approached with so much hate and anger, it’s fruitless to
even engage in dialogue. Those times I just smile and walk away.
Paid pro-choicers greeted us at the Supreme Court in Washington, D.C. with
bloodied crotches and loud, disgusting chants in an attempt to drown out our
Silent No More testimonies (to no avail).

Of
course, there is also the intimidation factor. Planned Parenthood
contracts out security services, and when we
pro-lifers gather, our pictures are taken, and the security
guards constantly talk on their
radios while eying us. Some call me by name, even though I’ve never
seen them before. I try my best to develop a positive rapport
with them and offer brochures, etc., but they are ordered not to take
anything from us whatsoever.

Now
I’ll address delayed emotion. As a Regional Coordinator for Silent
No More, I share my abortion experience at a variety of venues, including
vigils and rallies in front of clinics. Recalling the most horrific
decision and experience in my life is like ripping a bandage off,
still attached to the scab. By the time I am safely ensconced
in the security of my home, the cruelness of the ridicule and intimidation
added to the pain of recall pours out in a flood of tears. It’s then
I immerse myself in prayer and meditation and focus on the lives we may have
touched and the faces of all those standing beside me on the front lines …
People like me who offer nothing but love, compassion and hope to the women
considering abortion as well as already victimized. I remember the
many “thumbs up” and honks from other cars driving by and most importantly the
days we see young women decide not to enter death’s door.

Will it
all get too overwhelming? Will I eventually give
up? Absolutely not. No amount of cruelty or intimidation
will stop me from speaking the truth. No amount of cruelty or intimidation will stop me from doing all I can to
save a precious child from the grips of death. No amount of cruelty or intimidation will stop me from preventing others from
experiencing the physical, spiritual and emotional devastation abortion brings
to all involved. And no matter how many tears I shed when I get home
from the "front," I wipe them away with the healing
love, mercy, and forgiveness received from God and my children and
with the love and support from the other “first responders.”

Thursday, October 12, 2017

Advertisements for Halloween costumes are all over the place right now, and ... uh, oh ...
it got me thinking. We all wear masks from time to time; we have to.
There are situations where our true feelings or reactions would not be
socially acceptable or, in the worse case scenario ... even illegal. What we need to realize is there is one mask we wear that can interfere with
our lives: A false persona created due to the misguided notion of not
being good enough. That notion
subsequently prevents us from forming a genuine relationship with God and
others.

God doesn't make mistakes. We
need to trust Him. Remember, He created each one of us in His image. We
need to embrace who we are; establish an honest relationship with ourselves.
Then, and only then, can we form a true
and lasting relationship with Him and others.

Sunday, October 1, 2017

Going through some boxes of pictures, one surfaced that reminded me of a canceled baptism.

I was raised in a Christian home, but my
parents did not have me baptized as a child; they believed it should be my
decision later on as to what faith I wanted to follow. I never thought much
about it in my younger years, and in my
"demon days," God was not even part of my vocabulary ... unless I was using His name in vain. Anyway, I
was too interested in partying and doing my own thing.

In 1977, my parents and sister were attending a Methodist church in my
home town, and my sister decided to get baptized. I was twenty-four and
living on the other side of the state, but they wanted it to be a family
affair. They asked me to join my sister ... secretly hoping it might somehow change my evil ways.

Figuring this might be a way to get my parents "off my back," I reluctantly packed my bags and took the three-hour trip on a Friday night.
The baptism was not until Sunday, so I had all day Saturday to do
whatever I wanted. I decided to attend an intramural baseball game
sponsored by my previous employer, which gave me a chance to catch up with old
friends. I was busy chatting during the game,
and all of a sudden my ears started ringing and people screamed. I saw blood
flowing, and I thought I had a nosebleed. The bat had slipped out of the
batter's hand, into the bleachers and onto my forehead. It did not knock me out (hard headed aren't I?)
but my skull was fractured in four
places, I had a subdural hematoma and needed twenty-eight stitches across my
forehead. My parents were told not to get their hopes up for me making it
through the night, and that if I did make it,
there was no guarantee of a full recovery. While they were stitching me up, mom
and dad were at my bedside. Remembering the upcoming baptism, I looked at both
of them and said, "See, God does
not want me."

I believed that statement for years after the accident, and it was not until I sobered up and started on my wonderful faith journey that I realized how
wrong I was. I was too self-absorbed back then to see that He did want
me. Otherwise, I would not have survived the accident, let alone my wanton lifestyle, and I would not have learned
the valuable lessons still ahead of me.

I consider the accident a blessing in disguise. Although God did want me, I did not
want Him. The baptism would have been a farce; just something to make
my family happy. I would have entered the water with a closed heart and mind
then get in my car and return to my self-destructive ways. I would not have
appreciated the significance of the sacrament, in fact, I would have forgotten
about it the next day.

It took a few more years of lessons learned, but in 2006 I was baptized in the
Catholic church. Not only did I appreciate the significance, I entered the
water with an open heart and mind, I felt His presence, heard His invitation
and joyfully welcomed Him into my life.

Thursday, September 28, 2017

Janet Thompson takes the mystery out of mentoring in her new book Mentoring For All Seasons. I was honored to be part of this inspirational project as I discuss after-abortion healing as a recipient and provider.

Enjoy this special introduction from Janet…

I grew up in Southern California where,
with few seasonal exceptions, the weather was consistent year
round—sunny and beautiful. Sunny and hot with morning fog near the beach
in summer. Sunny and warm with occasional Santana winds in the fall.
Sunny with a few storms, rain, and overcast days in the winter, when the
temperatures might dip into the 60’s. Sunny and colorful in the spring.
Those were our seasons.

Then we moved to Idaho where we have four extremely distinct and
different seasons, each one lasting about three months, except last
winter’s snow went from November until a few snow days in April! The
biggest difference I’ve noticed about the four climate “seasons,” is
that the year seems to fly by in Idaho!

During that heavy snow winter, everyone could hardly wait until it
was summer. Then when summer brought high temperatures and smoke from
forest fires, everyone could hardly wait for fall. Now that fall has
finally arrived, in just a few months we’ll be right back into winter
snow again.

We’re continually coming out of one season and going into the
next completely different season—a great metaphor for our life seasons.
Many of you have experienced the blessing of having a mentor in the
changing seasons of your life, or long for a mentor to help you through a
new life season. That’s when those with experience in a life season can
reach out and offer counsel, support, prayer, and God’s wisdom to a
woman in a season we’ve experienced. Mentoring is that easy.

When we moved to Idaho from Southern California, we had never lived
in the rural mountains year round. We had a lot to learn and there was
always someone willing to mentor us; all we had to do was ask and be
receptive to what they had learned from living here. Now that we’re a
bit “seasoned,” we can help others moving here too.

One group of friends call themselves “Seasoned Veterans of the Word,”
and they’re anxious to learn more about mentoring. Author and speaker
Pam Farrel has several stories in this book where she tells of forming a
group of “Seasoned Sisters” to prepare for menopause and midlife
together, a season I’ve definitely included in Mentoring for All Seasons.

So that’s my challenge, let’s look for those God puts in our
path and share what we’ve learned from our experiences and how God and
His Word helped us and will help them too in whatever life season
they’re going through now. And if you’re going through a difficult life season or are new in your faith, ask God to help you find a mentor. Mentoring for All Seasons encourages women to intentionally
share their life experiences and God’s faithfulness. I’m not just
talking about women; we need to mentor our tweens and teens too!

You may encounter a woman in a season you haven’t experienced.
Mentees come from all walks and seasons of life, ages, and spiritual
maturity. Even if a mentor doesn’t share the exact life
experience of her mentee, the mentor can provide spiritual guidance, do
research, and pray about how to address the specific issues her mentee
is encountering. Some mentees might even be seekers or brand new believers who need to know how to live as Christian women today.
In Mentoring for All Seasons,
sixty-five women share their mentor or mentee testimonies, along with
my own personal experiences, helpful tips, and suggestions will guide
women in how to connect and nurture each other through mentoring
relationships, as a mentor or a mentee from tweens to twilight
years. There are Scriptures for each season to help guide the discussion
to God’s Word. Mentors don’t have all the answers, but God does!

Mentoring for all Seasonsis a reference, application, and coaching tool for a mentor or mentee as they traverse life’s journey together. I pray for Holy Spirit inspiration for some women to become Titus 2:3-5 women.

"Likewise, teach the older women to be reverent in the way
they live, not to be slanderers or addicted to much wine, but to teach
what is good. Then they can urge the younger women to love their
husbands and children, to be self-controlled and pure, to be busy at
home, to be kind, and to be subject to their husbands, so that no one
will malign the word of God.”

Throughout our lifetime, we vacillate between being a mentor and
needing a mentor, depending on the season of life. I pray whatever
season you’re in today, there’s someone walking beside you, and you’re
walking beside someone who needs you in her season of life.

Monday, September 25, 2017

It reminded me of
a term frequently used in Alcoholics Anonymous:“You are only as sick as your secrets.”

Many women and
men carry their abortion experience in the dark recesses of their soul.They do everything in their power to shroud
the secret from others and the guilt, shame,
and remorse associated with abortion from themselves. Sadly, the means used to avoid
detection are more disastrous than exposure:self-destructive behavior such as substance abuse, eating disorders,
promiscuity, being in abusive relationships, gambling, over-protectiveness of
living children or the opposite, etc.

I visualize the
tools (coping skills) used to conceal the secret as volcanic magma.As time passes, weaknesses in the earth’s
crust can no longer hold back the magma,
and a catastrophic eruption occurs. As one tool stops working, the world
crumbles and ushers in hopelessness, fear,
and depression resulting in the use of another, which starts the vicious cycle
all over again.

The only way to
stop the debilitating aftermath of abortion is to summon the courage to reach
out for healing. Removing the shroud of
secrecy will allow the light of love and forgiveness from our merciful God and
Savior, thus replacing the guilt, shame,
and remorse with peace and serenity.